Posted: Sun 03 Apr 2011, 04:16 Post subject:
TP-LINK WN721N - How do I make it workSubject description: Wanna use Puppy, but this is all too complicated

ok, i'm here and i'm gonna get blasted.
have i read every possible piece of information available on the site = NO
what's my problem = I have one of these TP-Link usb wireless n capable dongles Its a TL-WN721N.
I cannot make it work. I have spent 12 hours solid at my home office trying to get this stupid thing to work.
Other distros seem to be fine, but I really want to give puppy a chance, its late in the day, i'm not happy and everything i've read suggests that i have to do all sorts of stuff to get this stupid thing to work with this usb device.
I'm not a command line freak, but will give it a go.
The pc that is to be the victim of puppy linux is not connected to the net - because the stupid thing does not have any way of connecting because the usb thing will not connect. so please don't ask me to do all sorts of downloads. I dont have a ***ing internet connection on the pc - so how can i download the file - idiot idea...
Now, can someone tell me if it is at all possible to get puppy 5.2 to work with a TL-WN721N as the only network connection without having an alternative way of getting files from the internet?
if not, then bye bye puppy. if so, then welcome puppy.
someone must be able to tell me and someone must be able to be short sharp and accurate about what to do.
If the distro owners are watching maybe this is a stumbling block for several potential users. there must be some common low level networking capability that could be enabled so that this evil device will work - i know i'm gonna get flamed, but windoze does it, ubuntu does it, so why cant puppy do it?
Please give me ten seconds to put on my asbestos suit
10, 9 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, ----- Flame on

It looks like this device needs the ath9k_htc driver, which is available in newer kernels. Puppy 5.2 still has 2.6.33.2. Have a look at Fluppy. It has 2.6.35.7 and may detect your device automatically.

No no. That's baggage carried over from other forums. Here we treat people well, as long as they're courteous and patient.
You provided the exact details of the hardware in question, and the Puppy version you're running, so that's a great start. The only thing you didn't do was search the forum - that very same wifi device has been discussed twice before.

No matter, the information that rcrsn51 provided is absolutely correct, and trying Fluppy is a good idea ...
EDIT April 15 2011:
Fluppy013 does not contain the ath9k_htc driver, but I have just provided this driver as a separate dotpet, available here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=66857Last edited by tempestuous on Fri 15 Apr 2011, 05:50; edited 1 time in total

also on
http://dinthsblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-was-fighting-to-run-tp-link-wn422g-v2.html

this has worked for me on my Thinkpad T43 (with broken wireless) on puppy 4.3.1, 5.0, 5.1, and 5.1.1 also RC luci219 through to luci236 i hope this helps someone and I hope this USB wireless stick driver is included in PUPPY 5.2

So you're saying that ndiswrapper worked with your TL-WN422Gv2.
That's good, but it's worth noting that results with ndiswrapper are often unreliable.

goolwa_pup wrote:

load windows driver (netathuw.inf) with ndiswrapper

From where? Downloaded from a website?
Or from the installation CD? If so, the WinXP version, Win98 version, or Vista version?
Success with ndiswrapper often depends on the version of Windows driver used.

goolwa_pup wrote:

first download fimware ar9271.fw and place in /lib/firmware
get it from here
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git;a=tree

Well that's quite a confusing download for a newbie. How would a new user know to click "snapshot"
then uncompress the tarball, then navigate within the filesystem to find the firmware file?
Much better to use the ath9k_htc-firmware.pet I just provided, which has done all this work for you.

Posted: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 07:48 Post subject:
TP-LINK WN721N - How do I make it workSubject description: Thanks for the help, but still no-go

Thanks tempestuous, rcrsn51, goolwa_pup for your ideas.
I have tried the pet thing and your instructions seemed to go OK, but still no-go with Puppy 5.2.
Currently trying to download Fluppy013.iso and when that completes I will try running that and see if it works ok.
Another question, again about the wireless thing, if fluppy work, is there any way I can graft the bits from fluppy into the fill puppy 5.2 set up I have on my machine. Is this lunacy or just complicated or is it a practical solution.
The reason I ask is that the puppy machine will eventually be doing things like samba server and print server and torrent server (assuming that these can be done) and from the little I read about fluppy it seems that its even more light on than puppy and I'm wondering if it can do what I want to do...
Thanks for not going crackers at me, I had read all the threads about the TP-LINK TL-WN721N on these page, but they didn't make sense ans that's why I was waiting to get a serve off someone about RTFM, etc.
Have been round the whole range of linux distros this week, I keep coming back to puppy for some reason.
Regards Mr Hammy

Currently trying to download Fluppy013.iso and when that completes I will try running that and see if it works ok.

I recently downloaded Fluppy013, myself, and I see that the ath9k_htc is not included. I have sent the Fluppy developer, jemimah, a message to discuss the best way to deal with this in the future.

For now, I have sent you a private message with a download link to add the ath9k_htc driver.

mrhammy wrote:

if fluppy work, is there any way I can graft the bits from fluppy into the fill puppy 5.2

No. The problem is that your device requires a very new driver, ath9k_htc, and this driver is only available from kernel version 2.6.35 onwards. Currently Fluppy013 is the only Puppy version with such a recent kernel.

sorry guys I posted very quickly before flying out to Shanghai...yes use that firmware pet thats definitely easier...then reboot...it needs the firmware or will not work.......the driver I downloaded from TP-LINK's website....XP version....this needs to be copied to the hard drive and the .inf file included in the download is loaded via wireless setup as the ndiswrapper driver......as I say I dont have an abn wireless card (only abg) so not sure ho it will go.....

easiest but not cheapest newbie solution go to ebay and get a known working wireless usb such as netgear

off topic but there was a massive computer screen in shanghai with windows load errors all over it lmao may an opening for a puppy implementation lol.....

The ath9k_htc driver for Atheros AR9271/AR7010-based USB wifi devices
is now available for Fluppy 013 here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=66857
This is a true Linux driver, and it should support both mrhammy's TP-Link TL-WN721N and goolwa_pup's TP-Link TL-WN422G (v2).

I've Searched the Forum & i'Net & Found the solution for Fluppy 013 that is No Longer Maintained while I was using 1 of Me Favorite Preferred Puppies MacPup 528 V2, But Read that the Fix Needs a 2,6.35.? or Latter Ke*nel, that MacPup came up a bit Short, So I Switched 2 Another Recent Favorite Racy 5.2.2 NOP R2 w/ 3.07 Ke*nel, But Then Read Y'r BIG FAT WARNING! & had 2nd Thoughts...

Not so much a "fix", as a situation where the necessary driver, ath9k_htc, is only available in kernels after 2.6.35 ...
and since this thread was first started in April 2011 there are now quite a number of recent Puppy versions which have such a kernel.

It seems you didn't understand my "big fat warning" - since this has nothing to do about whether Racy 5.2.2 contains the necessary driver.
Certainly Racy 5.2.2 has a suitable kernel, but I don't know whether its author (Barry) enabled the ath9k_htc driver, and I don't know whether he included the necessary additional firmware.
Go ahead and try it! If the ath9k_htc driver is present, it will automatically load when you plug in the wifi dongle, and you can see this by checking the list of loaded modules with this command -

Code:

lsmod

If this proves positive, but no network interface has been created (as revealed in the Network Wizard) then you should run the "dmesg" command to see why the driver failed - chances are you will see an error relating to missing firmware - and this is easy to fix.

Then again, the easiest solution would be to use the latest official release - Slacko 5.3.3. I just checked now - it contains the ath9k_htc driver, plus firmware.

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